Foreign investment has surged four folds in the eight months of the current fiscal year.

The Current Economic Situation Report released by Nepal Rastra Bank on Monday states that Rs 8.35 billion foreign direct investment flowed into the country during this period.

As per the report, the FDI in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year was Rs 2.24 billion. The exponential increase in foreign investment is attributed to the additional investment in the hydroelectricity and hotel among other sectors.

Inflation up in hills

Similarly, the report states that inflation is high in the hilly region than in the urban areas. The consumer inflation rate in the hilly area is 5.9 percent, 3.7 percent in the mountainous region, 2.8 percent in the Tarai region and 1.9 percent in the Kathmandu Valley.

The consumer inflation rate in the same period last fiscal year was 10.4 percent in the hilly region, 8.5 percent in the mountainous region, 8.6 percent in the Tarai region and 12.7 percent in the Kathmandu Valley.

Rice import high

According to the Report, Nepal imported rice worth Rs 16.21 billion in the last eight months of the current fiscal year as it still remains the staple food of the Nepalis. Rice import in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year was Rs 13.43 billion.

Similarly, vegetables worth Rs 7.88 billion and fruits worth Rs 3.37 billion were imported from India alone in the last eight months of the current fiscal.

The NRB report showed that Rs 628 billion went out of the country on goods import in the same period of the current fiscal year whereas only Rs 48 billion has entered the country through exports.

The food inflation is negative by 0.4 percent in the review period this fiscal year. It was 10.3 percent in the corresponding period in the last fiscal year.

The central bank report shows that the price of sugar and sugar-related items has increased by 15.2 percent and that of the liquor by 10.7 percent during the review period.